Improvement in means for



ENTTED STATES PATENT Oriana.

JOHN CHAPMAN, OF SOMERSET STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN MEANS FOR APPLYING HEAT AND COLD IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES,

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,535, dated February 2l,

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CHAPMAN, M. D., of Somerset Street, Portman Square, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented an Improved Apparatus for Treating Diseases by Modifying the Temperature of Different' Portions of the Spinal Region; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this Specification, in which- Figure l is a plane view of a spine-bag with three separate or independent compartments; Fig 2, an elevation of the clamp used in closing the mouth of this bag. Fig. 3 is a plane view of a bag especially designed for applying hot water or other iiuids; Fig. 4, a transverse section of this bag at the line A A.

Like letters refer to corresponding parts in the several figures.

. The nature of my invention consists of an improved apparatus for advantageously and conveniently applying heat and cold to the nervous centers along the back, including the spinal cord, and the ganglia of the sympathetic nerve on each side of it, for the purpose of increasing and decreasing the circulation of the blood in different parts of the body and thereby curing certain diseases.

It is well known that the sympathetic nerve, sometimes called the nervous system of organic life,7 presides over those processes by which the body is developed and sustained. The power of this nerve to control the action ofthe blood-vessels has been termed its vasomotor function.77 But the sympathetic and ihe cerebrospinalnervousl systems are intimately related, and in some parts indistinguishable both in structure and function; hence when the nervous inuence which is exerted over the'several organs is abnormal either in kind or degree the most effective method of restoring its healthy condition is by simultaneously acting upon both systems of nerves. To be able to control these systems is to be able to exert a curative power over a large number of diseases. 'This control or power of controlling the circulation of the blood, which is the chief object of my invention, is obtained by modifying the temperature of the spinal region at different points, the amount of heat and cold most benecial to apply in any 'given case depending mainly upon the character of the disease. In practice Iexercise the desired control by the combined orindependent application of hot and cold substances and iluids-as, for instance, ice and warm waterto the region of the spinal cord by means of bags formed especially for the purpose of india-rubber, or other iiexible waterproof materia-ls. These spine-bags7 are divided into two or more compartments or cells by means of interior partitions, or by means of clamps applied to the exterior thereof, the said coinpartments being formed independent of, (r communicating with, each other, as may be desired.

The bag Bv (illustrated in Fig. 1) has independent cells or compartments. The di'erent compartments have each a mouth at c. The first compartment terminates at the dotted lines b, and the second at the dotted lines c, while the bag B, to the under side of which the other two compartments are attached near their bottoms, forms the third compartment. To prepare for the application, I ll thedeepest compartment of the bag to c, and then the second compartment to b, and then the first to nearly the top, when the mouths are closed by thel clamp d, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Similar clamps may also be employed just Lelow the dotted lines b and 0,'and these are especially needed when it is desired that the contents of the several compartments should be of different degrees of heat. For conveniencein securing spine-bags to thebody the loops c are attached,as shown in Fig. l..

Instead of a spine-bag with separate or independent compartments, a simple bag may be employed and the desired number of coinpart-ments formed by means of clamps f, applied transversely to the exterior. This bag, which is dat when empty, becomes oval when suflicientlyfilledfor use, and the clamp pressing the front and back aids it in maintaining an oval form. After putting a certain quantity of ice, water, or other material into the bag a clamp is applied, thus hermetically sealing the lower compartment. The other cells are formed and lled in the same manner and the mouthof the bag closed by a clamp, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

When it is desired to make application near, but :not upon, the spinal cord, I form a bag, D, Fig. 3, consisting ot' two or more compartments, lm, which communicate at the bottom and top. This bag has a mouth or nozzle, n, through which the hot or cold fluid is poured. This mouth is closed by means of a screw, o, similar to those employed in closing the nozzle of india rubber bags used as footwarmers. y

Haying thus described my invention, I Wish it understood that I do not conne myself to the exact form of constructing spine-bags illustrated and set forth,for that may be considerably modified Without essentially departing from its' spirit'. At the same time I am aware that flexible water-proof bags have been previously used for applying heat and cold to different parts of the human body 5' but Witnesses:

GEORGE HAZELTINE, S. E. SQUIRE. 

